THE VASE with the MANY COLOURED MARBLES.

A very beautiful South African CINDERELLA story.

The VASE with the MANY COLOUREDMARBLES

consists of two books. BOOK 1. EMMA. BOOK 2. MARLA.

BOOK 1. EMMA

Emma was born Emily Kleintjies into the Cape Coloured community of South Africa in District Six, a suburb of Cape Town. The Coloured community was discriminated against by the racial apartheid laws that became stricter with the election of Hendrik Verwoerd as Prime Minister.

Emily, as a young Coloured girl, looked more like a WHITE (European) than a Coloured. Growing up, she found that she could ignore the ‘WHITES ONLY’ signs on the benches, restaurants and beaches around Cape Town, without anyone challenging her.

As she grew older, she realised that she could not live with the racial discrimination of the country, being classified a second class citizen. She decides to challenge the apartheid system and become and live as a White. At the age of 16 years old, after many tears when she says goodbye to her family without them knowing her intentions, she moves from Cape Town to Johannesburg, where she successfully jumps the race barrier.

The story is about her life, how she challenges the apartheid system, living as a White with the continual fear that she may be found out. How she raises her daughter, Marla as a White, never telling her that she is Coloured.

BOOK 2 . MARLA

Marla growing up as a European in a town called Potchefstroom, is encouraged by her mother to ‘make as many friends among the Afrikaans community as you can. The only way to overcome apartheid is from within, not by direct confrontation.’

When Marla goes to University, she joins the anti-apartheid student groups. And fights the Hendrik Verwoerd apartheid system.

The target readership is... Anyone and everyone interested in enjoying a beautiful South African Cinderella story.

More than 90% of the story in the book is based on actual events, that I have observed during my life in South Africa and England when I was student there in 1953.

Below is what Lynn Thompson of Thompson Writing & Editing Inc who edited the book, has to say about the books. It’s an interesting story set during an interesting period in history, which is the essence of a good marketable book. It’s something about which most Americans know very little, too, so I like it from the educational perspective as well. I often advise my writers in terms of movies.... your book definitely has that potential.

This proved to be an excellent story and a great concept in
the form of Book 1 and Book 2 – mother and daughter, race relations, and race
relations across national landscapes. The author has put a lot of elements for
a compelling story in place here. There’s romance, tension, a strong climax,
historical references – really, a writer could not have stumbled upon a better
story concept for a piece of historical fiction. And the author gives us
characters that we can easily root for, which is a credit to the writing. The
characters are also easy to relate to.

We all have read many stories about Cinderella, but this was an enjoyable read about a South African Cinderella. I do not want to tell you more about this wonderful story, other than to say - enjoy a well written "Tale of Two" and all of their friendships and connections.

Koos van der Merwe

How did a young Coloured girl like Emily Kleintjies, who became EMMA KLINE, hide her racial qualification for so long?

Answer: Emma had help. In the same way there were secret organisations like the Broederbond and that Nazi organisation, the Ossewabrandwag in South Africa, there were also secret organisations that worked against the Apartheid system. Their members could be found in all levels of society, even in the Government.

A young boy, with the surname, de Klerk who studied at the Potchefstroom University, used to sunbathe at the swimming pool at our house whenever he visited the very beautiful young girl that lived next door to us. I will never forget his words, "My father and Uncle are far more liberal than they appear to be."